Automatic recorder for electrically-operated railway gates and signals



5 Sheets--Sheet l.

(No Model.)

J. M. WILLIAMS.

AUTOMATIC RECORDER FOR ELBGTRIGALLY OPBRATBD RAILWAY GATES AND SIGNALS.

Patented Dec. 7

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(No Model.) 5 SheetS-Sheet 2.

J. M. WILLIAMS.

AUTOMATIC RBGORDER TOR BLEGTRTGALLY OPBRATBD RAILWAY GATES AND SIGNALS.

No. 595,243. Patented Dec. 7,1897.4

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(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 3.

J. M. WILLIAMS. AUTOMATIC RECORDER EUR ELEGTRTGAELY OPERATED RAILWAY GATES AND STGNAER.

Patented Dec.7,1897.

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5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

No Model.)

J. M. WILLIAMS. AUTOMATIC RECORDER PoR RLRGTRICALLY ORRRATRD RAILWAY GATES AND SGNALS.

(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 5.

, J. M. WILLIAMS. AUTOMATIC RECORDER EUR ELEGTRIGALLY OPERATED RAILWAY GATES AND SIGNALS.

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.l ,.,U H mi?, 3 M 9 N N UNITED STATES PATENT EErcE.

JAMES M. VILLIAMS, OF DANVILLE, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR OF TIIREE- FOURTHS TO THOMAS P. KINNEILT AND JAMES A. HENDERSON, OF SAME PLAGE, AND HARRY W. KINNEY, OF LYNOHBURG, VIRGINIA.

AUTOMATIC RECORDER FOR ELECTRiCALLY-OPERATED RAILWAY GATES AND SIGNALS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 595,243, dated December '7, 1897.

Application led ,Tnly 28, 1897. Serial No. 646,257. (No model To @ZZ wwnt t may con/cern.-

Be it known that I, J AMES M. WILLIAMs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Danville, in the county of Pittsylvania and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Recorders for Electrically-Operated Railway Gates and Signals; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in automatic recorders designed for use in connection with electricallyoperated railroad gates or signals, especiallyblock-signals, and which is adapted to be acted upon by a vehicle, horse, or person, or other moving body, and to make a record either with the gate full open or when closing to place responsibility in case of accident, or, as in the blocksignal system, in addition to making a record also sending in or setting a signal of warning in an emergency-as, for instance, in event of a team caught on the track between the lowering gates, duc.

My invention therefore consists, primarily, of means or contrivance adapted to be mechanically actuated from the gate arm or signal paddle-shaft and means adapted to be electricallyoperated for acting upon a ribbon, sheet, or slip carried by the aforesaid means or contrivance, and of means adapted to electrically operate a signal in conjunction with said paddle-shaft of the block-signal; also, of sundry subsidiary combinations of parts, substantially as hereinafter more fully disclosed, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a sectional elevation showing one form of the embodiment of my invention; and Fig. 2 is a similar view of the saine, taken in a plane at right angles to the foregoing ligure, with certain parts omitted and others added. Fig. 8 shows a view of the gate with its signal. Fig. 8a is a view disclosing the embodiment of the invention in connection with a blocksignal system hereinafter referred more fully to, the recorder, however, not being shown. Fig. 4 is a detailed View showing push-button or bar for engine or train for closing electrical circuit. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of certain parts explained lateron, and Fig. G is a view showing a portion of the rccording-ribbon. Fig. 7 is a diagrammatical view showing the circuits as they are used in connection with my improved recorder for railway-crossings.

In carrying out my invention, which in this particular instance is in connection with a railroad-gate forming subject-matter of Letters Patent granted to myself and T. I. and II. IV. Kinney May 18, 1897, No. 582,889, I provide the gate-arm shaft A, supported in the usual housing a, with a segmental rack B, above which is arranged and geared thereto a gear-wheel O, loosely mounted upon a shaft b. The shaft h is suitably supported in position within the gate-arm shaft-housing a, and has xed to it a ratchet-wheel D, engaged by a pawl c, hung upon the side of the gearwheel O, thus providing for the transmission of motion from said wheel O to said ratchetwheel D and shaft h. The rack B is adapted to impart a predetermined movement to the aforesaid gearing and shaft and'accordingly aifect the movement of the recording-ribbon described later on.

E is a movable plate looselysupported upon rods or shafts d and the shaft b passing therethrough near its corners, said rods or shafts being suitably fixed or supported in place, and upon these rods d and shaft l) are also arranged spools c e, around which is passed an endless ribbon of paper or other suitable material, sheet, or strip F, said'ribbon being also passed around still another spool or roll c', geared and held closely to the spool e on shaft Z) immediately above it, and thence to the recorder proper,presently more fully referred to.

The spool c upon the shaft l), while adapted to be revolved intermittently thereby, yet has in common with the other spools a sliding movement, it being held upon its shaft by a spline, as shown.

The movable plate E has a screw-threaded shaft f passing loosely through it, which is suitably supported in position, and to said shaft on one side of said plate is fixed a stop f for said plate, and to said plate is remov- IOO ably held, preferably by screws f2, a nut g, engaging the screw-threaded shaft.

The plate E is pressed by springs 7L, arranged upon the rods or shafts d to keep it truly upright upon said rods, the purpose of which is obvious, and the spools or rolls e are loosely held to said plate by clips 7L', fastened to the latter.

G is an upright shaft suitably journaled and having a gear-wheel 7l at its lower end meshing with a worm j on the shaft h, said shaft G also having itself a worm 7.: at its upper end gearing with a pinion 7c on the shaft j', whereby said latter shaft is adapted to receive motion and transmit it tothe plate E.

The recorder proper is very similar to the old style of Morse telegraphic instrument, comprising, preferably, the contacting rolls H, hung in opposed arms H', suitably pivoted in position, the ribbon of paper, strip, or sheet F, as above intimated, passing from the spool e' under one of said rolls H and up between the same. The roll H, under which the paper passes, has a transverse peripheral groove 'Z in it, and directly below this is arranged the stylus, pen, or pencil H2, adapted to engage the paper or sheet upon the under side and carry it up into the groove Z and thus mark or indent the paper, as required, as will be more fully appreciated farther on. The stylus or pencil is carried at one end of the armature-lever H3, the opposite end of which is arranged above the poles of the electromagnets Ht, one having wire connections H5 with the battery H and the other having like connection H with the circuit-closer at the railroad or track platform H7, the battery also having wireconnections with the platform. The platform H7 is spring-cushioned, as at m, and normally held out of circuit, so that when depressed contact will be made between these wires and the circuit thus closed and electrically actuate the recorder, as is obvious.

It will here be called to attention that the ribbon of paper, sheet, or slip F is marked up into columns, with the headings of the intermediate columns marked in fractions of the are described by the movement of the gate and the headings ofthe first and last columns marked Before and After, respectively. It will also be understood that as the circuit make and break devices of the gate-arm, in connection with which this invention is used, form no part thereof, they need not be further referred to herein, the same being fully disclosed in patent above noted.

In operation it will be seen that with the gate open or at rest in an upright position in ease of the depression of the crossing-platform, as would result from a vehicle, animal, or person or other moving body crossing said platform, then only the electrical circuit at said platform would be closed, which would throw the stylus, pen, or pencil into opera tion or upward by reason of the attraction or drawing downward of the opposite end of the armature carrying said stylus or marking device by the electromagnets. In such event the stylus would impress or force the paper F up into the peripheral groove of one of the rolls H of the recording device proper, thus making a dot in the paper in the Before 0r first column, thus denoting or indicating that the platform was crossed when the gate was wholly open or at rest in an upright position. lf, now, the gate should be in the act of lowering, as would be the case upon being electrically operated by an approaching train, the gate-arm shaft will turn and, through the segmental rack, the gear, and pawl-and-ratchet mechanism, revolve the shaft b,and this would turn the spools bearing the ribbon of paper. At the same time, through the wormj and gear t', the worm 7c and itsshaft G, the pinion 71;', the screw-shaft f, and the nut g, the plate or follower' E would be moved, so as to carry the spools e and c, with the compassing ribbon of paper, along their shafts, thus moving the paper longitudinally upon the more extended rolls H, whereby the stylus will be caused to produce a dash upon the paper in the intermediate columns thereof, it being assumed that the circuit within which the stylus is arranged has been closed at the platform by the passing of a team or other moving body upon said platform throwing up or elevating the stylusintocontactwiththepaper. From this it will be seen that the exact angle of deflection of the gate from the perpendicular-il c., the extent of the failure to opportunely close the gate-or whether timely closed when the team or person reached or was caught upon the crossing-platform will be clearly indicated, and thus provide for placing the blame or responsibility in event of an accident.

Frein the above description it will be seen that the ribbon of paper is moved longitudinally and also laterally as the reeordin mechanism is operated by the gate-arm. The gearing interposed between the gate-shaft and the screw f is so proportioned that the gate may be raised and lowered a number of times before the follower-plate is moved from one end to the other of its lateral travel, and thus t-he record is produced in the form of a continuous spiral on the band extending entirely throughout its width, so that no two records will be made upon the same spot, and as the ribbon is preferably made quite wide-say about four inches there is room for a great many records upon one ribbon. Then the record-ribbon is full, the attendant whose duty it is to inspect the operation of the recorders should place a fresh one upon the rolls, and at the same time it would be his duty to loosen the screws f2 f2, push the plate E back to its starting-point, screw up the nut y against the plate again, and fasten it thereto by means of the screws f2f2, as before.

Should the attendant neglect to change the ribbon at the proper time, any harm is prevented from coming to the mechanism by constructing the screw f so that its threads do not extend to the easing a, but leave a lOO TIO

space between them and the said casing, so that when the nut G approaches the side of the casing a it will run off .the threads of the screw f and therefore be actuated no further until reset. In case of neglect to attend to the ribbon at the proper time the last few records upon the same would be spoiled by others being made over them, a nd in this way the fact of the attendants neglect would be made apparent.

In applying my invention t0 an automatic block-signal system, example of which is furnished by the application filed in the Patent Office by myself and T. P. and H. IV. Kinney May 28, 1897, Serial No. 638,600, it is only necessary to -provide a push-button or bar I, arranged alongside of and standing slightly above the rails of the track to adapt it to be operated upon by the tread of the wheels of the engine or train, said bar orbutton being loosely connected, as to I', to the trackboxes of the invention covered by said application, the other features thereof being the same as also disclosed in the latter.

As illustrated in Fig. 7 of the drawings, push-buttons or track-boxes similar to those illustrated at I in Fig. 4l; may be electrically connected with recording mechanism F F upon the signal-shaft of the mechanisms P I). By this arrangement the recorder F F will indicate the position of the signal-arms at ID P when the train passes the said push-buttons or track-boxes. It will be apparent also that other arrangements and connections of a similar character might be employed without departing from the spirit of my invention.

In the case of a team or animal being accidentally imprisoned between the closing gates I have made provision for releasing them, as

is fully illustrated in Figs. 3 and 5 of the drawings. A platform, as O, 1s placed between the tracks and is connected by suitable wires, as o'o, with the gate mechanism and also with the signal mechanism, as I), situated at some distance either side of the platform upon the track. The mechanism of the signal is preferably that which forms the subject-matter of an application hereinbefore referred to, and therefore needs no further explanation herein. The platform O is similar to the recording-platform IfI7 and is adapted to close a circuit through the signal when pressure is brought to bear upon it. The signal P is also used in connection with the operation of the gates to indicate to the engineer approaching in either direction the position of the gates, and for this purpose is connected with the gate-arm, as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings. W'hcn the gate-arm rises, the pin a, which extends into the casing a through a slot a2, engages a spring-arm p and forces the same into engagement with a contact p', thus completing a circuit through the signal-operating mechanism and setting the same at dangen This will indicate to an approaching engineer the fact that the gate-arm is raised or opened. Upon the gatearm descending the pin a will come in contact with another spring-arm p2 and force it into engagement with the contact p3, again completing the circuit through the signal, which will at once be operated to safetyfindicating to the engineer that the gate-arm is closed and that the track is clear.

IVhen it happens that the vehicle or animal is caught between the gates, the platform will cause the signal to indicate danger to the approaching engineer, as above described. The engineer can at once reverse his engine and engage the home boxes, (designated n, Fig. 5,) and thereby cause the gates to be raised again, so that the team or animal may be released from their confinement upon the track.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. In an automatic recorder forclectricallyoperated railroad-gates and block-signal systems, the combination, with the shaft thereof, of the endless ribbon, sheet or strip, means for carrying said ribbon, an electrical recording or marking device for acting upon said ribbon, means for moving the ribbon both longitudinally and laterally for receiving a spirally-arranged record and a circuit make and break device, and electrically connected to said recording or marking device, su bstantially as set forth.

2. In an automatic recorderfor electricallyoperated railroad-gates and block-signal systems, the combination, with the shaft thereof, of the endless ribbon, sheet or strip, means for carrying said ribbon, a follower or moving plate to engage therewith, means for transmitting from said shaft a sliding movement to said follower and for revolving the means carrying said ribbon, an electrical recorder adapted to act on said ribbon, and a circuit make and break device substantially as set forth.

3. In an automatic recorderfor electricallyoperated railroad-gates and block-signal systems, the combination, with the shaft thereof, of the segmental rack secured upon said shaft, spools or reels mounted in said recorder, a sliding plate or follower adapted to move said spools laterally, an endless ribbon of paper or other suitable material, compassing said spools, a loose gear-wheel, having a pawl engaging a ratchet, a shaft, carrying said loose gear-wheel said ratchet and` one of said spools the supporting rods or shafts forsaid plate being compassed by "springs pressing said plate, an electrically actuated marking device adapted to act upon said ribbon of paper, and a circuit make and break device electrically connected to said marking device, substantially as set forth.

il. In an automatic recorderfor electricallyoperated railroad-gates and block-signal systems, the combination, with the shaft thereof, of the screw-threaded shaft adapted to be actuated from the shaft aforesaid intermit- IOO tently, the sliding plate or follower, spools compassed by an endless ribbon of paper or other suitable material, the upright wormshaft having a gear-wheel on its lower end gearing with a worm on said screw-threaded shaft, a second screw-threaded shaft geared to said upright shaft and engaged by a nut secured to said follower, a recording or marking device adapted to act upon said ribbon and a circuit make and break device electrically connected to said marking device, substantially as set forth.

5. In an automatic recorder of the character described the combination with a shaft geared to a railroad gate or signal device, of the moving plate or follower and mechanism adapted to transmit motion from said shaft to said follower, an endless ribbon of paper, sheet, or strip eolnpassing spools or rolls positively connected with the recorder proper, comprising a peripherally-grooved roll an electrically-actuated stylus, pen or pencil to act upon said paper or sheet,and a make-andbreak device at the railroad-erossin g electrically connected to said recorder, substantiallyv as described.

G. In an automatic recorder for railway gates or signals, the combination with the shaft thereof, of an endless ribbon, sheet or strip, an electrically recording or marking device for acting upon the said ribbon, means for carrying' the ribbon both longitudinally and laterally whereby the marking device is adapted to produce a spirally-arranged record upon the said ribbon, a circuit make and break device connected with the said recording device, spaces indicated upon the said ribbon to receive the markings whereby the exact position of the gate or signal when the said circuit make and break device is closed may be indicated upon the said ribbon, substantially as described.

7. In an automatic recorder for railway gates and signals, the combination with the operating mechanism thereof, of a recordingribbon, a marking device adapted to act upon the said ribbon, means for moving the ribbon both longitudinally and laterally whereby the marking device is adapted to produce a spirally-arranged record upon the said ribbon, a circuit make and break device connected with the said recorder comprising a platform adapted to be operated by a passing team or animal, the construction being such that the record made upon the ribbon is adapted to indicate the position of the gate or signal when a team or animal crosses the platform, substantially as described.

S. In a railway gate or signal system, thc combination with suitable gates, of track instruments connected therewith whereby the same may be electrically operated from a locomotive, signals for indicating the position of the said gate to the engineer, a platform connected with the said signals whereby thc imprisoning of a team or animal between the gates may be indicated to the engineer, and other track instruments so located that they may be operated upon from the locomotive to open the gates after the engineer has been informed of the imprisonment by the said signals, substantially as described.

ln an automatic recorder for railway gates or signals, the combination with the shaft thereof, of an endless ribbon, a marking device adapted to produce a record upon said ribbon, and means connected with the gate or signal for moving the ribbon laterally and longitudinally simultaneously when the gate or signal is operated whereby the record produced upon the ribbon will be arranged spirally thereon, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES lvl. VILLIAHS. lVitnesses:

Guias. L. lIoLLAND, W. A. ALLEN. 

